INTERVIEW – Bulgaria must intensify exploration to ensure the viability of the mining sector

May 31 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria must expand exploration for underground resources to ensure the sustainable development of its mining sector in the face of growing demand, Ivan Mitev, director general of the Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology, told SeeNews.

“One of the key issues we face is the need to deepen our knowledge of our subsoil deposits. We are working on information collected in the 1960s, 1970s and mid-1980s,” Mitev said in a recent interview with SeeNews. “We don’t know what resources we actually have, at what depth and what economic benefits they bring.”

“We need this information to be able to replace the currently operating facilities with new ones in ten or fifteen years and maintain the share of this industry in the country’s GDP,” he added.

According to Mitev, mining generates about 10% of Bulgaria’s GDP. “If we add metallurgy to this, we will have a share of GDP of about 30%,” he added.

Rapid technological development in the world depends on the supply of raw materials. The series of global crises in recent years have created shortages and dependencies, exposing Europe’s vulnerabilities, Mitev commented. “First, we had a health crisis where all supply chains were disrupted and the entire circular economy was put to a stress test. “We then had a series of armed conflicts that continue to impact world markets.”

Europe consumes 30% of the world’s raw materials and extracts only 3%, he emphasized. “We depend on the rest of the world for 97% of our consumption and this 3% cannot ensure rapid industrialization in Europe. To meet its needs and achieve its goals, Europe must reduce its dependence on imports.

To ensure a sustainable supply of critical raw materials, in March the European Council introduced ambitious standards for mining, processing, recycling and diversification of import sources. The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) sets out two lists of materials – 34 critical and 17 strategic – that are key to the ecological and digital transformation, as well as to the defense and space industries. CRMA sets three benchmarks for annual raw material consumption in the EU: 10% from local extraction; 40% is to be processed in the EU and 25% is to come from recycled materials. Mining projects will receive permits within a maximum of 27 months, while for recycling and processing projects the deadline is 15 months.

By comparison, it took 17 years to open the newest mine in Bulgaria, Mitev said. He added that on a global scale, it usually takes about a decade to start a standard industrial materials quarry. This, in his opinion, threatens supplies. Another risk for the development of the sector is the volatility of electricity prices, which causes uncompetitive prices of final mining products.

According to Mitev, new European legislation makes Bulgaria need to increase its administrative capacity.

“We have a very solid legal framework and specialized legislation in this sector, we also have development strategies that we now need to update, but we need to increase our administrative capacity and meet the deadlines provided for in the law, and above all we need to have the clear will of politicians to strictly implement our goals ” – said Mitev.

Bulgaria has deposits of raw materials that are included in the strategic and critical lists defined by the European Council, but their concentration is low. If, for example, the useful metal content is 2%, in Bulgaria it is 0.3%, because over the years the sector has made up for it with volumes and continuous investments in technology and equipment. “We also have a very skilled workforce,” he noted.